The self-made billionaire, 80, was born the son of a railway worker in La Coruña and left school at 13years of age to work in a clothing shop. He founded Zara from his living room with his ex-wife Rosalia Mera before launching the Inditex fashion group, of which he is the chairman.

According to Forbes, experts in estimating the bank balances of the world’s wealthiest, Mr Ortega’s fortune overtook that of Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Wednesday and Thursday this week, before fluctuating share prices pushed it back into second place. Apparently, this was not Mr Ortega’s first time at the top of the list. In October 2015, he was the world’s wealthiest man for a few hours.

Compared to the other world’s richest people, he has chosen to keep a very low profile, avoiding interviews and media appearances. The son of a railway worker, born in 1936, just before the outbreak of Spain’s civil war. The family struggled to make ends meet, and now he is one of the world’s richest men in the world and his daughter Marta is expected to take over the business.

Marta, 31, has undergone training at the firm, including stacking shelves when she was younger. Despite rumours that she is due to succeed her father, Inditex – parent company to Zara, Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear – will not confirm her as successor.

He has donated up to $28 billion through his charitable foundation in 2013. Mr Gates’ three children will only inherit “a minuscule portion” of his wealth, reported to be in the region of $10 million each, in order to ensure they “find their own way” in life. He joins a number of wealthy figures who have once said their children will not inherit majority of their fortunes, including;Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg, Sting and Nigella Lawson.